Gaetz Considering Leaving Congress for Role at Newsmax: Report

Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) is reportedly considering not running for re-election in 2022 — and possibly even leaving Congress before his term is up — to instead take a job at Newsmax.

The Florida Republican, who religiously appears on cable news, has privately told a number of his allies that he has an interest in becoming a media personality, according to Axios.

A source told the outlet that Gaetz, a Trump ally, has had preliminary conversations with Newsmax about a potential position. The network, along with One America News Network (OANN), gained popularity after the 2020 election, when a number of Republicans disavowed Fox News after it made an early projection that President Biden had won Arizona.

The shift away from political life comes after the 38-year-old congressman reportedly considered entering the race for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in 2020.

However, that effort never came to fruition and in January, Gaetz said he would not challenge Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio in the 2022 Florida primary.

“I have no interest in running against Marco Rubio for the US Senate,” he wrote on Twitter.

“In 2022 the only statewide position I would consider running for in the current political climate is Commissioner of Agriculture. But things can change! (Not the Senate thing though),” Gaetz said then.

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